Growing up, I always had a certain picture in my head of reporters - the men were hard-nosed, with a cap pulled down low, scruffy, unshaven and unafraid to get into the face of the powerful. Even female reporters, I assumed, just had to look pretty at the office, at night they would do whatever it took to get their story as well.
Today - well, things have changed a bit. Now the reporters themselves see themselves as the powerful they once wished to bring down; hobnobbing in the salons of the rich and famous made them see themselves as one of them. So this new class of elites, once paid to defend the powerless, now work as full-time flacks for those who give them the status boost they so deeply crave.
Perfect case in point is Robin Givhan's column in today's Washington Post; a sneering put-down of the lower to middle class rabble who dares show up at a town hall meeting without understanding what the correct fashion etiquette is for debasing yourself before power:
It seems safe to say that of the hundreds of thousands of style guides currently for sale on Amazon, not one of the didactic, shop-your-closet authors was prescient enough to outline the appropriate attire for those public occasions when good citizens decide to behave like raving lunatics and turn lawmakers into punching bags. What does one wear to a town hall meeting on health care when the sole reason for attending is to shout down one's congressman like a peevish teenager in the midst of a hormonal rage?
Well, the media has just given anyone who questions government authority a new label, folks - we're evil, we're un-American, we're Astroturf, we're...petulant teenagers! And quite poorly dressed, to boot:
By and large, the shouters are dressed in a way that underscores their Average Guy -- or Gal -- bona fides. They are wearing T-shirts, baseball caps, promotional polo shirts and sundresses with bra straps sliding down their arm. They wear fuchsia bandannas and American-flag hankies wrapped around their skulls like sweatbands. A lot of them look as though they could be attending a sporting event and, as it turns out, the congressman is the opposing player they have decided to heckle. If not for the prohibition on signs and banners inside these meetings, one could well expect to see some of these volatile worker bees wearing face paint and foam fingers, albeit the highlighted digit would be one expressing foul displeasure rather than competitive rank or skill level.
Givhan seems to believe that if all the protesters showed up in suits and ties, they'd get better answers:
Would they compel more lawmakers to rethink their positions rather than merely repeat, again and again -- in a voice that has the tone of an impatient kindergarten teacher -- the same core points?
The stunning cluelessness about how regular folks live and work - once the bread and butter of any aspiring journalist - is now typical for the new media elite. Less and less people work in suits now than at any time I can remember. Take it from me, Robin G. - I take a bus to freakin' New York City every morning, and out of the forty-odd guys on the bus at any time, maybe - maybe! - four of them are wearing suits. And I'm one of them. And I hate it. And on summer weekends, I wear shorts, a t-shirt, and as little footwear as possible. And in the winter, jeans with a flannel shirt. Almost everywhere. And if you don't like it, you can ask me to leave your home, or your place of business. No one ever has.
So for Givhan to suggest that maybe if we all put on a suit and tie - long dresses and heels for the ladies, perhaps? - then maybe the folks we pay to represent us might actually listen to us - is a tremendous expression of ignorance and loathing for the people she is claiming to be writing about. What's she's really saying is that we don't deserve to be spoken truth to, or even honestly represented, until we become more like her, and the congressmen who rob and cheat us.
Sorry, Robin. I don't want to be in your filthy club, but gee - thanks for your "advice", anyway.
I'll just keep my baseball hat and New Jersey t-shirt on, and fight from the outside to take you and my congressman down. The difference is that once we win, I'll let you in my club no matter what you choose to wear, and I will listen respectfully to your views and answer you with honesty and respect.
Of course, if you guys did that for us every now and then, maybe we wouldn't have to show up at your place with our pathetic middle-class values and dress code.
Hmmm...Wanna make a deal...?
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
The British Defend the NHS....Well, Sort Of....
Saw this up on Yahoo - Britons defend their health care from US criticism - and got ready for some serious arguments in favor of socialized medicine.
Instead, I wound up laughing all the way through. Where to start? Not sure - maybe with the head of Britain's conservative party bragging about widespread support of the NHS, based upon the praise it recieves on Twitter? (no wonder why Labour owns that nation).
How about I start here, with the lass suffering from Stockholm Syndrome?
Even British health campaigner Kate Spall — who criticizes NHS failings in U.S. television ads produced by Conservatives for Patients' Rights, a lobby group that opposes Obama's plans — declared that the group had misled her and was distorting her true views. Spall's mother died of kidney cancer while waiting for treatment.
"There are failings in the system but I'm not anti-NHS at all," Spall told the British Broadcasting Corp.
"I help the vulnerable patients in our country that come to me for help, those that have been denied treatment," she said....
So your mom died waiting for treatment, you specialize in helping people who have been denied treatment, and yet you still support the system that forments this chaos? The Patient's Rights Group should pull their ads with Ms. Spall, if only because she is quite clearly deranged.
The truth comes out at the end of the article - which offers no support from ordinary British citizens, only activists and elected officials:
The NHS, founded in 1948, is the cornerstone of the United Kingdom's welfare state.
About 12 percent of the UK's 61 million residents have private insurance, but the vast majority rely on state-funded emergency care, surgery and access to family doctors. Even those who complain about the system say they want it improved, not dismantled.
British officials acknowledge that their system has been struggling to cope and faces a 15 billion pound ($24 billion) deficit. Hospitals are often overcrowded, dirty and understaffed, which means some patients do not get the care they are promised.
So, the AP agrees that nationalized health is the building block of the "welfare state", 88% of British citizens are on what we would call the "public option", with only 12% remaining on private insurance, and its $24 billion in the hole (and counting). Oh - and the whole think is a clusterf*ck, to boot.
And this is what the Brits defend, and this is what Obama wants to foist upon us. God help us, and our children, if he succeeds....
UPDATE: Yes, Stockhold Syndrome is appropriate here: a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger or risk in which they have been placed.
Instead, I wound up laughing all the way through. Where to start? Not sure - maybe with the head of Britain's conservative party bragging about widespread support of the NHS, based upon the praise it recieves on Twitter? (no wonder why Labour owns that nation).
How about I start here, with the lass suffering from Stockholm Syndrome?
Even British health campaigner Kate Spall — who criticizes NHS failings in U.S. television ads produced by Conservatives for Patients' Rights, a lobby group that opposes Obama's plans — declared that the group had misled her and was distorting her true views. Spall's mother died of kidney cancer while waiting for treatment.
"There are failings in the system but I'm not anti-NHS at all," Spall told the British Broadcasting Corp.
"I help the vulnerable patients in our country that come to me for help, those that have been denied treatment," she said....
So your mom died waiting for treatment, you specialize in helping people who have been denied treatment, and yet you still support the system that forments this chaos? The Patient's Rights Group should pull their ads with Ms. Spall, if only because she is quite clearly deranged.
The truth comes out at the end of the article - which offers no support from ordinary British citizens, only activists and elected officials:
The NHS, founded in 1948, is the cornerstone of the United Kingdom's welfare state.
About 12 percent of the UK's 61 million residents have private insurance, but the vast majority rely on state-funded emergency care, surgery and access to family doctors. Even those who complain about the system say they want it improved, not dismantled.
British officials acknowledge that their system has been struggling to cope and faces a 15 billion pound ($24 billion) deficit. Hospitals are often overcrowded, dirty and understaffed, which means some patients do not get the care they are promised.
So, the AP agrees that nationalized health is the building block of the "welfare state", 88% of British citizens are on what we would call the "public option", with only 12% remaining on private insurance, and its $24 billion in the hole (and counting). Oh - and the whole think is a clusterf*ck, to boot.
And this is what the Brits defend, and this is what Obama wants to foist upon us. God help us, and our children, if he succeeds....
UPDATE: Yes, Stockhold Syndrome is appropriate here: a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger or risk in which they have been placed.
New York: We'd Rather Tax Than Drill !
Example #762 of how liberals would rather starve a society to death than rethink one of their core beliefs, no matter how much it flies in the face of reality...
Dateline: New York. Teetering on financial ruin due to choking taxation and regulation, a recently discovered natural gas reserve is being ignored, because to access it would involve....drilling:
The Marcellus Shale is a massive natural-gas reservoir extending from southern New York through western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. It is thought to be the largest natural-gas reservoir in America.
The SUNY-Fredonia geologist who broke the news of this huge reserve last year recently estimated it could hold 1,300 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- more than 10 times what Texas's Barnett Shale contains. The Marcellus might hold 65 years' worth of US natural-gas needs.
Paterson last year signed a bill to streamline the permitting process for gas drilling -- but threw a wrench in the mix by insisting on a one-year moratorium while his team studied drilling's environmental impact.
The one-year deadline came and went last month, but drilling remains on hold. Now Paterson's Department of Environmental Conservation says it won't release any findings until the fall.
Imagine what a windfall this would be for the long-suffering people of New York state. But apparently, they'll never have an opportunity to exploit this opportunity due to the rigid intolerance of their liberal leadership and the political connections of environmental activists such as Robert Kennedy Jr.'s "Riverkeeper" organization, among others....
It's kind of like a parent denying a poor child grandpa's inheritance money because "he made his fortune in oil, and we're too green to accept his dirty money".
One would think the parents to be cruel, or insane, or maybe both. But certainly both can be said of New York's liberal leadership, who would rather tax businesses until they break and residents until they flee, than offer their citizens a bounty of riches found under a rock in their backyard...
Dateline: New York. Teetering on financial ruin due to choking taxation and regulation, a recently discovered natural gas reserve is being ignored, because to access it would involve....drilling:
The Marcellus Shale is a massive natural-gas reservoir extending from southern New York through western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. It is thought to be the largest natural-gas reservoir in America.
The SUNY-Fredonia geologist who broke the news of this huge reserve last year recently estimated it could hold 1,300 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- more than 10 times what Texas's Barnett Shale contains. The Marcellus might hold 65 years' worth of US natural-gas needs.
Paterson last year signed a bill to streamline the permitting process for gas drilling -- but threw a wrench in the mix by insisting on a one-year moratorium while his team studied drilling's environmental impact.
The one-year deadline came and went last month, but drilling remains on hold. Now Paterson's Department of Environmental Conservation says it won't release any findings until the fall.
Imagine what a windfall this would be for the long-suffering people of New York state. But apparently, they'll never have an opportunity to exploit this opportunity due to the rigid intolerance of their liberal leadership and the political connections of environmental activists such as Robert Kennedy Jr.'s "Riverkeeper" organization, among others....
It's kind of like a parent denying a poor child grandpa's inheritance money because "he made his fortune in oil, and we're too green to accept his dirty money".
One would think the parents to be cruel, or insane, or maybe both. But certainly both can be said of New York's liberal leadership, who would rather tax businesses until they break and residents until they flee, than offer their citizens a bounty of riches found under a rock in their backyard...
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Barack Obama vs.The Economy: A Race To The Bottom!
Yeah, sure....the economy has "bottomed out", the recession is "just about over", etc., etc., etc....
Yeah...you're all full of sh*t:
Retail sales disappointed in July and the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week. The latest government reports reinforced concerns about how quickly consumers will be able to contribute to a broad economic recovery.
"There is really no positive spin to put on these numbers," Jennifer Lee, an economist with BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a research note. "The U.S. consumer remains very weak. The jobs situation, while slowly improving, is still dismal."
The Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales fell 0.1 percent last month. Economists had expected a gain of 0.7 percent.
While autos, helped by the start of the Cash for Clunkers program, showed a 2.4 percent jump — the biggest in six months — there was widespread weakness elsewhere. Gasoline stations, department stores, electronics outlets and furniture stores all reported declines.
More:
The Labor Department said initial claims increased to a seasonally adjusted 558,000, from 554,000 the previous week. Analysts expected new claims to drop to 545,000, according to Thomson Reuters.
Seems to me things are even worse than we believe, or are being told. Look at comparable numbers from recent recessions:
Looking at the recessions of the post-war period, average monthly job losses ranged between 150,000 and 260,000. Average monthly losses in this recession are still at 350,000. For the first four months of the year, the average was at 648,000. . .
For the labor market to stabilize, job losses need to slow to 100,000 to 150,000 per month, and jobless claims need to fall to around 400,000.
We're a long, long way away from those numbers. And claims are still rising....
Well, Barack Obama thinks this is a swell time to pass legislation that will cause electricity bills to skyrocket, and to reform the heath care system of the United States in such a way that no one knows what the hell will happen, except that it is way more likely things will get worse for the average American rather than better. So this bit of news is no surprise either:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 29% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8 ...
Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That’s the lowest level of total approval yet recorded. The President’s ratings first fell below 50% just a few weeks ago on July 25. Fifty-two percent (52%) now disapprove.
Even in Deep Blue Jersey, Obama is spinning towards mediocrity:
President Obama has a 56%-39% job approval rating in New Jersey, down from 61%-33% last month, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
"For President Barack Obama, the bloom is fading in the Garden State as his approval rating wilts," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "The President still is on the positive side when we ask about his overall job approval and his grades for handling the economy. But the trend - and that's what you always look at - is heading down."
Among independents voters, Obama has an upside-down 45%-48% approval rating.
Remember - no matter what the media tries to sell you - for both the President and the economy, the bottom is nowhere yet in sight.
Yeah...you're all full of sh*t:
Retail sales disappointed in July and the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week. The latest government reports reinforced concerns about how quickly consumers will be able to contribute to a broad economic recovery.
"There is really no positive spin to put on these numbers," Jennifer Lee, an economist with BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a research note. "The U.S. consumer remains very weak. The jobs situation, while slowly improving, is still dismal."
The Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales fell 0.1 percent last month. Economists had expected a gain of 0.7 percent.
While autos, helped by the start of the Cash for Clunkers program, showed a 2.4 percent jump — the biggest in six months — there was widespread weakness elsewhere. Gasoline stations, department stores, electronics outlets and furniture stores all reported declines.
More:
The Labor Department said initial claims increased to a seasonally adjusted 558,000, from 554,000 the previous week. Analysts expected new claims to drop to 545,000, according to Thomson Reuters.
Seems to me things are even worse than we believe, or are being told. Look at comparable numbers from recent recessions:
Looking at the recessions of the post-war period, average monthly job losses ranged between 150,000 and 260,000. Average monthly losses in this recession are still at 350,000. For the first four months of the year, the average was at 648,000. . .
For the labor market to stabilize, job losses need to slow to 100,000 to 150,000 per month, and jobless claims need to fall to around 400,000.
We're a long, long way away from those numbers. And claims are still rising....
Well, Barack Obama thinks this is a swell time to pass legislation that will cause electricity bills to skyrocket, and to reform the heath care system of the United States in such a way that no one knows what the hell will happen, except that it is way more likely things will get worse for the average American rather than better. So this bit of news is no surprise either:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 29% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8 ...
Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That’s the lowest level of total approval yet recorded. The President’s ratings first fell below 50% just a few weeks ago on July 25. Fifty-two percent (52%) now disapprove.
Even in Deep Blue Jersey, Obama is spinning towards mediocrity:
President Obama has a 56%-39% job approval rating in New Jersey, down from 61%-33% last month, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
"For President Barack Obama, the bloom is fading in the Garden State as his approval rating wilts," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "The President still is on the positive side when we ask about his overall job approval and his grades for handling the economy. But the trend - and that's what you always look at - is heading down."
Among independents voters, Obama has an upside-down 45%-48% approval rating.
Remember - no matter what the media tries to sell you - for both the President and the economy, the bottom is nowhere yet in sight.
Climate Change Expert Speaks...
...and forever removes any doubt about both the fallacy of global warming, the stupidity of our leadership in Washington, and the questionable judgement of the people of Michigan (if there are any people left there, of course).
Let's hear from Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich), a member of the Senate Energy Committee - yes, the same committee that will go to work this fall on the "cap and trade" energy tax:
Climate change is very real," she confessed as she embraced cap and trade's massive tax increase on Michigan industry - at the same time claiming, against all the evidence, that it would not lead to an increase in manufacturing costs or energy prices. "Global warming creates volatility. I feel it when I'm flying. The storms are more volatile. We are paying the price in more hurricanes and tornadoes."
Ideology over reality. There are no longer any facts to back up global warming - in fact, as the story states - Michigan just experienced its coldest July on record; global temperatures haven't risen in more than a decade; Great Lakes water levels have resumed their 30-year cyclical rise (contrary to a decade of media scare stories that they were drying up due to global warming), and polls show that climate change doesn't even make a list of Michigan voters' top-ten concerns - yet Debbie Stabenow is hell-bent on a economy-destroying tax increase in order to suit her warped leftist philosophy.
We get the government we deserve. And based on the near-riots we are seeing these days, I think the American people are starting to believe we deserve better.
Let's hear from Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich), a member of the Senate Energy Committee - yes, the same committee that will go to work this fall on the "cap and trade" energy tax:
Climate change is very real," she confessed as she embraced cap and trade's massive tax increase on Michigan industry - at the same time claiming, against all the evidence, that it would not lead to an increase in manufacturing costs or energy prices. "Global warming creates volatility. I feel it when I'm flying. The storms are more volatile. We are paying the price in more hurricanes and tornadoes."
Ideology over reality. There are no longer any facts to back up global warming - in fact, as the story states - Michigan just experienced its coldest July on record; global temperatures haven't risen in more than a decade; Great Lakes water levels have resumed their 30-year cyclical rise (contrary to a decade of media scare stories that they were drying up due to global warming), and polls show that climate change doesn't even make a list of Michigan voters' top-ten concerns - yet Debbie Stabenow is hell-bent on a economy-destroying tax increase in order to suit her warped leftist philosophy.
We get the government we deserve. And based on the near-riots we are seeing these days, I think the American people are starting to believe we deserve better.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Rep. Sheila Jackson Scorns Cancer Survivor!
Seems like the Democrats have backed off their charges that those who do not desire nationalized health care are un-American, and have lately been given to calling these protestors "rude" and "angry".
You want to see rude? Let's watch a young cancer survivor try to talk to Representative Sheila Jackson (D) about heath care at a town hall meeting. Sheila doesn't seem to be in the mood to suffer any dissent from the proletariat, so what does she do?
She starts to chat on her cellphone. Seriously. Listen for the guy shouting in disgust, "She isn't even listening to you!":
"Disgusting" doesn't even begin to come close to properly describing Sheila Jackson's cavalier behavior...
And they wonder why they are loathed so.
You want to see rude? Let's watch a young cancer survivor try to talk to Representative Sheila Jackson (D) about heath care at a town hall meeting. Sheila doesn't seem to be in the mood to suffer any dissent from the proletariat, so what does she do?
She starts to chat on her cellphone. Seriously. Listen for the guy shouting in disgust, "She isn't even listening to you!":
"Disgusting" doesn't even begin to come close to properly describing Sheila Jackson's cavalier behavior...
And they wonder why they are loathed so.
Specter Decides Who Represents America!
Because, apparently, it is not the majority who decides:
Sen. Arlen Specter said Wednesday he thinks people who have been angrily disrupting town hall meetings on overhauling the health care system are "not necessarily representative of America," but should be heard.
"It's more than health care," said Specter, 79, who earlier this year left the Republican Party and became a Democrat. "I think there is a mood in America of anger with so many people unemployed, with so much bickering in Washington ... with the fear of losing their health care. It all boils over."
Next thing you know, these backwater bozos will be clutching their guns and bibles, racist homophobes that they are. We should all thank Arlen Specter for coming down off of his ivory tower to represent us; truly, by even speaking with us, he is "slumming"....
But..."Not necessarily representative of America", Arlen? Well, the polls are telling quite the different story - just ask Gallup:
When asked, "Would you advise your member of Congress to vote for or against a healthcare reform bill when they return to Washington in September, or do you not have an opinion?" 35 percent said vote for, 36 percent said vote against, and 29 percent said "no opinion."
That's a 21-percentage-point drop in support in less than four weeks (from their July 14th poll).
The protestors represent. You don't. So please don't look surprised when they send you packing in November.
Sen. Arlen Specter said Wednesday he thinks people who have been angrily disrupting town hall meetings on overhauling the health care system are "not necessarily representative of America," but should be heard.
"It's more than health care," said Specter, 79, who earlier this year left the Republican Party and became a Democrat. "I think there is a mood in America of anger with so many people unemployed, with so much bickering in Washington ... with the fear of losing their health care. It all boils over."
Next thing you know, these backwater bozos will be clutching their guns and bibles, racist homophobes that they are. We should all thank Arlen Specter for coming down off of his ivory tower to represent us; truly, by even speaking with us, he is "slumming"....
But..."Not necessarily representative of America", Arlen? Well, the polls are telling quite the different story - just ask Gallup:
When asked, "Would you advise your member of Congress to vote for or against a healthcare reform bill when they return to Washington in September, or do you not have an opinion?" 35 percent said vote for, 36 percent said vote against, and 29 percent said "no opinion."
That's a 21-percentage-point drop in support in less than four weeks (from their July 14th poll).
The protestors represent. You don't. So please don't look surprised when they send you packing in November.
David Scott: Tagged with the wrong logo !
A swastika was found Tuesday painted on a sign outside Rep. David Scott's district office, an act the Georgia Democrat said reflects an increasingly hateful and racist debate over health care and should serve as a reminder for people to tone down their rhetoric...
'cause it's always about race, right? Except when you're a black conservative getting whomped by a gang of Democrat-inspired union thugs. Then you're just a "troublemaker", a "part of an angry mob".
Anyway - maybe there was another reason that Congressman Scott got swastika'd? Gotta go to the bottom of the article to learn this:
At an Aug. 1 community meeting in Douglasville, Ga., Scott angrily yelled at protesters who peppered him with questions and complaints about Democratic health care proposals. He has said he was upset that they interrupted a meeting that was supposed to be about plans for a new highway in the area.
Ah. Angrily yelled, indeed:
Maybe "Went batsh*t beserk on the people who hired him to represent them" might be a better description of Mr. Scott's recent relationship with the citizens of his district.
Anyway, the swastika is a big mistake, folks. It's completely the wrong symbolism.
This one is harder to do, but is much more appropriate for Representative Scott and his ilk:
'cause it's always about race, right? Except when you're a black conservative getting whomped by a gang of Democrat-inspired union thugs. Then you're just a "troublemaker", a "part of an angry mob".
Anyway - maybe there was another reason that Congressman Scott got swastika'd? Gotta go to the bottom of the article to learn this:
At an Aug. 1 community meeting in Douglasville, Ga., Scott angrily yelled at protesters who peppered him with questions and complaints about Democratic health care proposals. He has said he was upset that they interrupted a meeting that was supposed to be about plans for a new highway in the area.
Ah. Angrily yelled, indeed:
Maybe "Went batsh*t beserk on the people who hired him to represent them" might be a better description of Mr. Scott's recent relationship with the citizens of his district.
Anyway, the swastika is a big mistake, folks. It's completely the wrong symbolism.
This one is harder to do, but is much more appropriate for Representative Scott and his ilk:
And Democrats - please don't complain too loudly about this. After all, it was you guys who made this part & parcel of American politics, what with your constant comparison of one George W. Bush to Hitler and.or his henchmen.
Or, as your Dear Leader would say:
I don't want the folks who created the mess do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking."
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Obama Lying His *ss Off In New Hampshire
Well, I guess he knows that he has the media in his pocket, so there will be little fact-checking in the morning (although I doubt that Obama understands the discredit the media has fallen into these days). Still, this one is a whopper - from The Campaign Spot:
"I have not said that I am a supporter of a single-payer system," Obama tells the crowd in New Hampshire.
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire, August 19, 2008: "Obama Touts Single-Payer System for Health Care"
Barack Obama said he would consider embracing a single-payer health-care system, beloved by liberals, as his plan for broader coverage evolves over time.“If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system,” Obama told some 1,800 people at a town-hall style meeting on the economy.
In related news, we have always been at war with Eastasia.
And I love the quote from Obama New Hampshire "town hall" that Drudge has splashed on its landing page:
'YOU WON'T BE WAITING IN ANY LINES'
Wow. It takes quite a man to brag about adding 50 million people to the insurance rolls, and simultaneously claim that these folks won't add a minute to your wait time at the doctor's office. Hell, everyone knows the law of supply and demand works at Barack Obama's beck and call!
While do I believe such blatent falsehoods will do nothing to better the sour mood across the nation, nor drum up addtional support for a nationalized heath care system?
We need a strong dose of the truth here, stat...
"I have not said that I am a supporter of a single-payer system," Obama tells the crowd in New Hampshire.
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire, August 19, 2008: "Obama Touts Single-Payer System for Health Care"
Barack Obama said he would consider embracing a single-payer health-care system, beloved by liberals, as his plan for broader coverage evolves over time.“If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system,” Obama told some 1,800 people at a town-hall style meeting on the economy.
In related news, we have always been at war with Eastasia.
And I love the quote from Obama New Hampshire "town hall" that Drudge has splashed on its landing page:
'YOU WON'T BE WAITING IN ANY LINES'
Wow. It takes quite a man to brag about adding 50 million people to the insurance rolls, and simultaneously claim that these folks won't add a minute to your wait time at the doctor's office. Hell, everyone knows the law of supply and demand works at Barack Obama's beck and call!
While do I believe such blatent falsehoods will do nothing to better the sour mood across the nation, nor drum up addtional support for a nationalized heath care system?
We need a strong dose of the truth here, stat...
Jersey Town Hall Erupts With Emotion
Kudos to New Jersey Democrat Steve Rothman for getting out there in front of his constituents to talk about health care. Actually, one shouldn't be congratulated for talking to the people they are supposed to represent, but based on the cowardly duck-and-cover we have seen from Democrats nationwide, we appreciate the few that still have the manhood to go out there and do their freakin' jobs....
Rothman is in an interesting district - Hackensack, the Meadowlands - leans union, very blue-collar, and strictly middle class. See for yourself in this short video of his town hall meeting, held yesterday in Jersey.
Some interesting points:
- this is an angry mob? Age range seems to be 40-80, and while there is anger, there is no rage as described by the likes of Nanacy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer.
-love the crowd support - Medicare? "BANKRUPT!!" Social Security? "BANKRUPT!!" And why should we give you (Rothman) control of our health care? No answer....
-very upsetting scene where the woman breaks down and cries towards the end over the possibility of American health care availability dropping to a Canadian-esque level, as she questions the total worldwide elimination of quality medical care...
- the end of the video shows some pro-nationalization folks outside the hall. Note the professionally-made signs, and their calls for a value-added tax (VAT) to pay from it. Holy Astroturf, Batman!
Rothman claims he has not made up his mind on the bill. As the leader of the Morristown Tea Party group points out at the end, if he is truly listening to the people he claims to represent, there is only one choice he can make when his name is called to vote....
Rothman is in an interesting district - Hackensack, the Meadowlands - leans union, very blue-collar, and strictly middle class. See for yourself in this short video of his town hall meeting, held yesterday in Jersey.
Some interesting points:
- this is an angry mob? Age range seems to be 40-80, and while there is anger, there is no rage as described by the likes of Nanacy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer.
-love the crowd support - Medicare? "BANKRUPT!!" Social Security? "BANKRUPT!!" And why should we give you (Rothman) control of our health care? No answer....
-very upsetting scene where the woman breaks down and cries towards the end over the possibility of American health care availability dropping to a Canadian-esque level, as she questions the total worldwide elimination of quality medical care...
- the end of the video shows some pro-nationalization folks outside the hall. Note the professionally-made signs, and their calls for a value-added tax (VAT) to pay from it. Holy Astroturf, Batman!
Rothman claims he has not made up his mind on the bill. As the leader of the Morristown Tea Party group points out at the end, if he is truly listening to the people he claims to represent, there is only one choice he can make when his name is called to vote....
Monday, August 10, 2009
Obama Ends Health Care Debate With A New Logo !
That's right! Because Americans are too stupid to think for themselves, and all they need is a shiny new logo to make them stand up, pay attention, and obey!
This is the logo that the Democrats think will end the health care debate, once and for all:
This is the logo that the Democrats think will end the health care debate, once and for all:
Hmmm. Maybe. And perhaps it will remind folks of other logos and similarly-themed government propoganda, like these:
Looks like the Nazis and the imperial Japanese loved those halos of light as well, shining down upon the leader, or the people under the leader's beautific guidance.
And if the logo fails to work on the dense citizenry of the United States? Well, perhaps a jingle will be next, a catchy little tune devised to wake us out of our television-induced slumber and point us towards the rightousness of Obama's cause?
Maybe. But maybe we've already awoken, and don't like what we see. If so, it might take a bit more than shiny new logos to put an uppity populaiton back in its place...
Hat tip: Robbin Swad at The Examiner
Nancy Pelosi And Steny Hoyer's Big Lie
No, it's not the claim that the folks protesting nationalized health care are "un-American" - that's a mean, nasty little lie, only believed by those who have already drunk deeply from the liberal Kool-Aid pitcher. No, this is the one that stuck in my craw:
Reform will mean stability and peace of mind for the middle class.
Actually, it won't. Not at all. The health care bill as proposed by the Democrats is one that will harm the middle class the most. The rich have nothing to worry about; they have enough money to pay for any type of treatments they desire, even if they must fly overseas to get it. The poor, who may not have healthcare, will now get it for free.
The middle class is the group that will be torn asunder by nationalized health. Despite Barack and Nancy's repeated vows that no one will be forced onto government health, they cannot guarantee that. Actually, they guarantee the opposite - that companies will find it cheaper to pay the "payroll tax" than to actually offer insurance to their employees, and will thus turn them out, forcing people who were previously satisfied with their insurance onto national health.
And when the middle-class mom needs to take her sick son or daughter to the doctor, what will they find? Weeks-long wait, if they're lucky. Apparently, progressives don't "do" math - how can you offer health insurance to 50 million people and not expect a madhouse at the doctor's office? And how many people will want to become doctors in the future, knowing your earning can only decrease as government bureaucrats look to lower the burden of medical costs on your back?
So what happens? Kids stay sick longer, and parents who need to stay home with them lose valuable earnings. Of course, some folks will just send their kids to school sick anyway, thus spreading illnesses more rapidly and creating an even greater demand for limited physician services?
"Stability and peace of mind"? What a load of sh*t. Every time a middle class citizen gets sick, panic will ensue on exactly how to get treated in a timely fashion so that they may return to work, or a child may return to school. Families will churn doctors trying to find one with the shortest wait time, and nerves will be on edge every time a child sneezes.
That's why you see the middle-class turning out in droves to denounce their representatives for going along with this scam. And I don't think calling them an "Un-American mob" is going to sit very well with them - or scare them into staying home and taking orders...
Reform will mean stability and peace of mind for the middle class.
Actually, it won't. Not at all. The health care bill as proposed by the Democrats is one that will harm the middle class the most. The rich have nothing to worry about; they have enough money to pay for any type of treatments they desire, even if they must fly overseas to get it. The poor, who may not have healthcare, will now get it for free.
The middle class is the group that will be torn asunder by nationalized health. Despite Barack and Nancy's repeated vows that no one will be forced onto government health, they cannot guarantee that. Actually, they guarantee the opposite - that companies will find it cheaper to pay the "payroll tax" than to actually offer insurance to their employees, and will thus turn them out, forcing people who were previously satisfied with their insurance onto national health.
And when the middle-class mom needs to take her sick son or daughter to the doctor, what will they find? Weeks-long wait, if they're lucky. Apparently, progressives don't "do" math - how can you offer health insurance to 50 million people and not expect a madhouse at the doctor's office? And how many people will want to become doctors in the future, knowing your earning can only decrease as government bureaucrats look to lower the burden of medical costs on your back?
So what happens? Kids stay sick longer, and parents who need to stay home with them lose valuable earnings. Of course, some folks will just send their kids to school sick anyway, thus spreading illnesses more rapidly and creating an even greater demand for limited physician services?
"Stability and peace of mind"? What a load of sh*t. Every time a middle class citizen gets sick, panic will ensue on exactly how to get treated in a timely fashion so that they may return to work, or a child may return to school. Families will churn doctors trying to find one with the shortest wait time, and nerves will be on edge every time a child sneezes.
That's why you see the middle-class turning out in droves to denounce their representatives for going along with this scam. And I don't think calling them an "Un-American mob" is going to sit very well with them - or scare them into staying home and taking orders...
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Cash For Clunkers: The Big Winners Are...Trucks !
OK, forget the list that I put out on Tuesday (Lunatic Economics, indeed) - it turns out, as usual, the government is being deceptive, and the American people are smarter than their representatives, the media, and Bill Maher ("Just because a country elects a smart president doesn't make it a smart country") ever will be.
Seems as if the vehicles most purchased via the "frenzy" of the "Cash-for-Clunkers" program are not the Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, or the Toyota Prius. Seems as if the government doesn't know how to account for "trim levels", especially popular on pickups and SUVs.
For example, my Honda Pilot comes in six trim levels. If six people bough six Pilots, each in a different trim, the government would count it as one sale for each type of Pilot, and might even subdivide it further by 2WD and 4WD, thus skewering the sales totals and making them seem less popular, say, then a Focus or Civic. CNN Money reports:
The government's results showed small cars as the top choice for shoppers looking for Cash for Clunker deals. But an independent analysis by Edmunds.com disputed those results, and showed that two full-size trucks and a small crossover SUV were actually among the top-ten buys.
The discrepancy is a result of the methods used. Edmunds.com uses traditional sales measurements, tallying sales by make and model. The government uses a more arcane measurement method that subdivides models according to engine and transmission types, counting them as separate models.
...Sales of GM's Silverado truck, under the government's counting method, were divided among five different versions. So were the Ford F-150s. If the different versions of these trucks were considered the same vehicle, as auto sales are normally reported, sales of these trucks would look much heftier
So if you take all of the trim levels into account, here is the list of best selling vehicles under the now $3 billion "Cash for Clunkers" program:
1 - Ford Escape
2 - Ford Focus
3 - Jeep Patriot
4 -Dodge Caliber
5 - Ford F-150
6 -Honda Civic
7 -Chevrolet Silverado
8 -Chevrolet Cobalt
9 -Toyota Corolla
10- Ford Fusion
So four of the top seven vehicles under this program are either SUVs or pickup trucks! Oh, too funny...
Props to Ford, for being able to squeeze a whole line of products - from economy to 4WD trucks - into the top ten. And all without a taxpayer bailout.
Well, the "clunkers" program is a bailout - it reduces the price of new vehicles by $4,500 by using taxpayer dollars to cover the difference and rebate the automakers.
At least Ford isn't double-dipping. And we get to see yet another great liberal experiment blow up like a junior high-school chemistry experiment. Instead of the roads being flooded with shiny little hybrids, we get more kick-ass pickups and a few extra Jeeps and Escapes to boot, driven by smirking citizens who just know they took Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman for a ride....
Great job, Democrats. You've put the nation an extra $3 billion in the whole, and had your brilliant idea of a hybrid generation run over by Americans who were just a little bit smarter than you - as usual.
But I am sure that government will do a much better job with nationalized health care...
UPDATE: Oddly, CNN Money has posted - only twelve hours after the link above - another "top 10" list for the "Cash-for Clunkers" program, this one echoing earlier versions that do not account for various trim/drivetrain levels. Guess CNN has decidedto use the government's list, even though they know, and have written, that it is factually incorrect.
And they wonder why we don't believe a word they say...
UPDATE II: And a week later, the media finally gets on board...
Seems as if the vehicles most purchased via the "frenzy" of the "Cash-for-Clunkers" program are not the Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, or the Toyota Prius. Seems as if the government doesn't know how to account for "trim levels", especially popular on pickups and SUVs.
For example, my Honda Pilot comes in six trim levels. If six people bough six Pilots, each in a different trim, the government would count it as one sale for each type of Pilot, and might even subdivide it further by 2WD and 4WD, thus skewering the sales totals and making them seem less popular, say, then a Focus or Civic. CNN Money reports:
The government's results showed small cars as the top choice for shoppers looking for Cash for Clunker deals. But an independent analysis by Edmunds.com disputed those results, and showed that two full-size trucks and a small crossover SUV were actually among the top-ten buys.
The discrepancy is a result of the methods used. Edmunds.com uses traditional sales measurements, tallying sales by make and model. The government uses a more arcane measurement method that subdivides models according to engine and transmission types, counting them as separate models.
...Sales of GM's Silverado truck, under the government's counting method, were divided among five different versions. So were the Ford F-150s. If the different versions of these trucks were considered the same vehicle, as auto sales are normally reported, sales of these trucks would look much heftier
So if you take all of the trim levels into account, here is the list of best selling vehicles under the now $3 billion "Cash for Clunkers" program:
1 - Ford Escape
2 - Ford Focus
3 - Jeep Patriot
4 -Dodge Caliber
5 - Ford F-150
6 -Honda Civic
7 -Chevrolet Silverado
8 -Chevrolet Cobalt
9 -Toyota Corolla
10- Ford Fusion
So four of the top seven vehicles under this program are either SUVs or pickup trucks! Oh, too funny...
Props to Ford, for being able to squeeze a whole line of products - from economy to 4WD trucks - into the top ten. And all without a taxpayer bailout.
Well, the "clunkers" program is a bailout - it reduces the price of new vehicles by $4,500 by using taxpayer dollars to cover the difference and rebate the automakers.
At least Ford isn't double-dipping. And we get to see yet another great liberal experiment blow up like a junior high-school chemistry experiment. Instead of the roads being flooded with shiny little hybrids, we get more kick-ass pickups and a few extra Jeeps and Escapes to boot, driven by smirking citizens who just know they took Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman for a ride....
Great job, Democrats. You've put the nation an extra $3 billion in the whole, and had your brilliant idea of a hybrid generation run over by Americans who were just a little bit smarter than you - as usual.
But I am sure that government will do a much better job with nationalized health care...
UPDATE: Oddly, CNN Money has posted - only twelve hours after the link above - another "top 10" list for the "Cash-for Clunkers" program, this one echoing earlier versions that do not account for various trim/drivetrain levels. Guess CNN has decidedto use the government's list, even though they know, and have written, that it is factually incorrect.
And they wonder why we don't believe a word they say...
UPDATE II: And a week later, the media finally gets on board...
Friday, August 07, 2009
Obama to Americans: "Don't do a lot of talking"
How dare we, mere proletariat that we are, questions the plans and schemes of those whom we cannot dream of measuring up to? We are lucky, nay blessed, to have been given Barack Obama to lead us at this darkest hour.
And The One does not broach dissent (unless it is He who forments it), and he will not tolerate his subjects delaying his grand plan to remake the nation in his image by daring to discuss it out loud. So he hath laid down The Law:
"I don't want the folks who created the mess do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking."
That is you and I, fellow subject. We are not to speak when we are told to be silent, we must allow our pockets to be picked if Master Barack feels he needs our earnings, we must nod our heads in assent if those here illegally pass us on line at the doctor's office.
Gee, how do you think this is going to play out in Virginia, where The One came to speak on behalf of Craig Deeds? Does he think - after telling them to shut up - voters will do so, then march into the voting booth and pull the lever for his henchman?
And The One does not broach dissent (unless it is He who forments it), and he will not tolerate his subjects delaying his grand plan to remake the nation in his image by daring to discuss it out loud. So he hath laid down The Law:
"I don't want the folks who created the mess do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking."
That is you and I, fellow subject. We are not to speak when we are told to be silent, we must allow our pockets to be picked if Master Barack feels he needs our earnings, we must nod our heads in assent if those here illegally pass us on line at the doctor's office.
Gee, how do you think this is going to play out in Virginia, where The One came to speak on behalf of Craig Deeds? Does he think - after telling them to shut up - voters will do so, then march into the voting booth and pull the lever for his henchman?
Video of His speech:
An "August Revolution" Across America
Call them "Tea Partiers", call them right-wing nuts, call them neocons, call them a well-dressed angry mob. But the truth is this summer's crowds of nervous citizens of all ages and stripes (from geriatrics to mohawk-sportin' punks) are no longer accepting the status quo of American politics, and are hell-bent on changing them. Many thought Barack Obama would be the agent of that change, but he was just more of the same, save for an extraordinary thirst for power and a taste for intimidation.
Are we seeing an "August Revolution" in America - people rising up with anger if not violence, to tell their elected representatives to represent, or stay home?
Victor Davis Hanson calls it "Prairie Fire":
There is, again, a mounting anxiety that the current federal expansion is politically-driven in rather radical ways—an effort to create a permanent new constituency of millions who either receive expanded federal largess or are gleefully employed in doling it out. The zealotry of expansive bureaucracy and dependency instills fears, rational or not, of a radicalized huge federal work force, a sort of national version of Acorn to the nth degree that in pack-like fashion is mobilized to target potential naysayers...
Voters are beginning to sense a certain edge to the Obama revolution, a meanness in its class-driven rhetoric aimed at the more successful....
A well educated technocracy—we see such figures in the emblematic Timothy Geithner, Eric Holder, or Barack Obama himself —have most of their lives served in government, largely regulating, overseeing, organizing, auditing, and sermonizing far more productive and capable others. One of the worst flaws of this species of utopian technocrat is the notion that he wishes to curtail in others the very things he wishes to enjoy without constraint himself
....I underestimated the righteous anger of those who are daily deprecated by a utopian class—one that has neither the ability nor the fortitude to achieve what it now wishes to undo in others.
VDH just misunderstood America's DNA. We were birthed to believe in freedom, in the pursuit of happiness, in rights that were ours and not the government's to dole out. We fought our war of freedom not to fight off genocide, to fight for land, or for conquest - we fought a long war of Revolution over the right to control taxation, and our representation.
How far the Democratic party has strayed from the nation's roots. Barack Obama, often describing himself as "rootless", was never hard-wired into American's love of their nations. His ugly responses to displays of legitimate protest underscore this.
Peggy Noonan, with more on the August Revolution:
What the town-hall meetings represent is a feeling of rebellion, an uprising against change they do not believe in....
But most damagingly to political civility, and even our political tradition, was the new White House email address to which citizens are asked to report instances of “disinformation” in the health-care debate...All of this is unnecessarily and unhelpfully divisive and provocative. They are mocking and menacing concerned citizens...
But every day the meetings seem just a little angrier, and people who are afraid—who have been made afraid, and left to be afraid—can get swept up. As this column is written, there comes word that John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO has announced he’ll be sending in union members to the meetings to counter health care’s critics.
Somehow that doesn’t sound like a peace initiative.
It’s going to be a long August, isn’t it? Let’s hope the uncharted territory we’re in doesn’t turn dark.
If it does - and let's pray it doesn't - it won't be the American people that are to blame. It will be a government that decided to be imperial instead of elected, representatives who mock their concerned constituents as "nutjobs", and a president who sends in union thugs to"quiet the debate", that will be responsible for any unrest we may see in the last summer of the first decade of a new century.
An August Revolution in America? Only if the government makes it happen...
Are we seeing an "August Revolution" in America - people rising up with anger if not violence, to tell their elected representatives to represent, or stay home?
Victor Davis Hanson calls it "Prairie Fire":
There is, again, a mounting anxiety that the current federal expansion is politically-driven in rather radical ways—an effort to create a permanent new constituency of millions who either receive expanded federal largess or are gleefully employed in doling it out. The zealotry of expansive bureaucracy and dependency instills fears, rational or not, of a radicalized huge federal work force, a sort of national version of Acorn to the nth degree that in pack-like fashion is mobilized to target potential naysayers...
Voters are beginning to sense a certain edge to the Obama revolution, a meanness in its class-driven rhetoric aimed at the more successful....
A well educated technocracy—we see such figures in the emblematic Timothy Geithner, Eric Holder, or Barack Obama himself —have most of their lives served in government, largely regulating, overseeing, organizing, auditing, and sermonizing far more productive and capable others. One of the worst flaws of this species of utopian technocrat is the notion that he wishes to curtail in others the very things he wishes to enjoy without constraint himself
....I underestimated the righteous anger of those who are daily deprecated by a utopian class—one that has neither the ability nor the fortitude to achieve what it now wishes to undo in others.
VDH just misunderstood America's DNA. We were birthed to believe in freedom, in the pursuit of happiness, in rights that were ours and not the government's to dole out. We fought our war of freedom not to fight off genocide, to fight for land, or for conquest - we fought a long war of Revolution over the right to control taxation, and our representation.
How far the Democratic party has strayed from the nation's roots. Barack Obama, often describing himself as "rootless", was never hard-wired into American's love of their nations. His ugly responses to displays of legitimate protest underscore this.
Peggy Noonan, with more on the August Revolution:
What the town-hall meetings represent is a feeling of rebellion, an uprising against change they do not believe in....
But most damagingly to political civility, and even our political tradition, was the new White House email address to which citizens are asked to report instances of “disinformation” in the health-care debate...All of this is unnecessarily and unhelpfully divisive and provocative. They are mocking and menacing concerned citizens...
But every day the meetings seem just a little angrier, and people who are afraid—who have been made afraid, and left to be afraid—can get swept up. As this column is written, there comes word that John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO has announced he’ll be sending in union members to the meetings to counter health care’s critics.
Somehow that doesn’t sound like a peace initiative.
It’s going to be a long August, isn’t it? Let’s hope the uncharted territory we’re in doesn’t turn dark.
If it does - and let's pray it doesn't - it won't be the American people that are to blame. It will be a government that decided to be imperial instead of elected, representatives who mock their concerned constituents as "nutjobs", and a president who sends in union thugs to"quiet the debate", that will be responsible for any unrest we may see in the last summer of the first decade of a new century.
An August Revolution in America? Only if the government makes it happen...
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Obama Shows Bush How It's Done
And yet another example of Barack Obama's superiority over George W. Bush: His poll numbers are sinking way, way faster than W's ever did! From RCP:
After 6 Months, More View Obama's Presidency as a 'Failure' Than Bush's
A rather surprising finding from the newly released CNN poll. Question three on the national survey of 1,136 adults (which includes an oversample of African-Americans) asks, "Do you consider the first six months of the Obama administration to be a success or a failure?"
Thirty-seven percent (37%) said they believe the Obama administration is a "failure," while 51% consider it a "success" and 11% say it's still "too soon to tell."
An identical question was asked of the Bush administration in an August 2001 CNN/Gallup/USA Today survey. At the time, 56% said the Bush administration was a "success" while only 32% considered it a "failure...
"Rather suprising"? Only if the MSM is your only source of information...
And this is with an oversampling of African-Americans, who have been taught by the Democrats to ignore the teachings of Dr. King and view everything through the prism of race. Imagine the results of a truly balanced poll?
Ah, but the media doesn't like to produce those. They tend to thwart the narrative...
After 6 Months, More View Obama's Presidency as a 'Failure' Than Bush's
A rather surprising finding from the newly released CNN poll. Question three on the national survey of 1,136 adults (which includes an oversample of African-Americans) asks, "Do you consider the first six months of the Obama administration to be a success or a failure?"
Thirty-seven percent (37%) said they believe the Obama administration is a "failure," while 51% consider it a "success" and 11% say it's still "too soon to tell."
An identical question was asked of the Bush administration in an August 2001 CNN/Gallup/USA Today survey. At the time, 56% said the Bush administration was a "success" while only 32% considered it a "failure...
"Rather suprising"? Only if the MSM is your only source of information...
And this is with an oversampling of African-Americans, who have been taught by the Democrats to ignore the teachings of Dr. King and view everything through the prism of race. Imagine the results of a truly balanced poll?
Ah, but the media doesn't like to produce those. They tend to thwart the narrative...
ABC News Reports "The Truth" About Town Halls
Ah, those town hall meetings that have been the bane of Congressional Democrats since they've returned back home. Filled with "Nazi symbolism", according to Nancy Pelosi. Packed with suspiciously "well-dressed" protestors, according to Barbera Boxer (what, does she think all of America's middle class dresses in rags and tie-dyes, like her West Coast bretheren?)
So ABC News went to a town hall to root out this clandestine conservative operatives. And what do you know? They turn out to be real people!
There were no lobbyist-funded buses in the parking lot of Mardela Middle and High School on Tuesday evening, and the hundreds of Eastern Maryland residents who packed the school’s auditorium loudly refuted the notion that their anger over the Democrats’ health care reform plans is “manufactured.”
“I went to school in this school,” a man named Bob told me. “I don't see anyone in this room that isn't from Mardela Springs right now.”
“We’ve been quiet too long,” said a woman named Joan.
They came to yell at their congressman, freshman Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil.....
Tough day for Kratovil, who admitted that - unlike the cap and trade bill he voted for - he's actually in the middle of reading the health care bill right now:
By the end of the 90 minute town hall -- which Kratovil told the crowd was his fourth interaction with constituents that day -- the congressman looked exasperated. He was hounded by jeers all the way out to his car.
Remember: We are citizens, not subjects. Pelosi and Boxer can complain from the palace that the peasents are getting uppity, as they confiscate our earnings based on their "need" and use it to buy transatlantic jets for themselves, but you can almost smell their sweat.
Quiet subjects is what they need to rule. Angry citizens will bring down the palace gates and force the princes and princesses of liberal royalty to divest themselves of their ill-gotten gains.
They fear that. So they fear - and loathe - us as well. We are mocked, sneered at, and called miserable names in the hope that we will accept these monikers meekly and slink away.
Things will get uglier before they get better. Desperate royalty can do dangerous things...
So ABC News went to a town hall to root out this clandestine conservative operatives. And what do you know? They turn out to be real people!
There were no lobbyist-funded buses in the parking lot of Mardela Middle and High School on Tuesday evening, and the hundreds of Eastern Maryland residents who packed the school’s auditorium loudly refuted the notion that their anger over the Democrats’ health care reform plans is “manufactured.”
“I went to school in this school,” a man named Bob told me. “I don't see anyone in this room that isn't from Mardela Springs right now.”
“We’ve been quiet too long,” said a woman named Joan.
They came to yell at their congressman, freshman Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil.....
Tough day for Kratovil, who admitted that - unlike the cap and trade bill he voted for - he's actually in the middle of reading the health care bill right now:
By the end of the 90 minute town hall -- which Kratovil told the crowd was his fourth interaction with constituents that day -- the congressman looked exasperated. He was hounded by jeers all the way out to his car.
Remember: We are citizens, not subjects. Pelosi and Boxer can complain from the palace that the peasents are getting uppity, as they confiscate our earnings based on their "need" and use it to buy transatlantic jets for themselves, but you can almost smell their sweat.
Quiet subjects is what they need to rule. Angry citizens will bring down the palace gates and force the princes and princesses of liberal royalty to divest themselves of their ill-gotten gains.
They fear that. So they fear - and loathe - us as well. We are mocked, sneered at, and called miserable names in the hope that we will accept these monikers meekly and slink away.
Things will get uglier before they get better. Desperate royalty can do dangerous things...
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Warren Buffett - Traitor?
Well, a traitor to the cause of capitalism - the socioeconomic philososphy that made him the wealthy man he is today.
Seems as if some of Mr. Buffett's key holdings have been doing quite well under the Obama regime. Holdings that, coincidentally, are recieving a lot of taxpayer-funded bailouts:
Berkshire Hathaway, in which Buffett owns 27 percent, according to a recent proxy filing, has more than $26 billion invested in eight financial companies that have received bailout money. The TARP at one point had nearly $100 billion invested in these companies and, according to new data released by Thomson Reuters, FDIC backs more than $130 billion of their debt....
He even traded the bailout, seeking morally hazardous profits in preferred stock and warrants of Goldman and GE because he had "confidence in Congress to do the right thing" -- to rescue shareholders in too-big-to-fail financials from the losses that were rightfully theirs to absorb.
So Buffett, the oracle of capitalism, is telling us that 'ol Baracky is just fine, the system is fine, and that all is well...because he is currently profiting from the wealth transfers being orchestrated by the Obama administration.
Buffett is being naive, and greedy. Doesn't he realize that he is going to be a prime target for plunder once the bills come due for Socialist America? Or does he, with Cesearean recklessness and pride, feel he is an untouchable, even in Obama's crooked system?
Buffett could have been a leader, a voice of reason and a spokesman for the return to the capitalism that made him (and many other Americans) wealthy. Instead, he has sold his soul for some short-term profits finanaced by the middle-class taxpayer.
In the long term, both he and his shareholders will see their wealth raided. Obama will justify it as a return on his/our investment. And Buffet, who could have changed the world, will be rendered powerless by his very support of the system that will destroy him.
Pity.
Seems as if some of Mr. Buffett's key holdings have been doing quite well under the Obama regime. Holdings that, coincidentally, are recieving a lot of taxpayer-funded bailouts:
Berkshire Hathaway, in which Buffett owns 27 percent, according to a recent proxy filing, has more than $26 billion invested in eight financial companies that have received bailout money. The TARP at one point had nearly $100 billion invested in these companies and, according to new data released by Thomson Reuters, FDIC backs more than $130 billion of their debt....
He even traded the bailout, seeking morally hazardous profits in preferred stock and warrants of Goldman and GE because he had "confidence in Congress to do the right thing" -- to rescue shareholders in too-big-to-fail financials from the losses that were rightfully theirs to absorb.
So Buffett, the oracle of capitalism, is telling us that 'ol Baracky is just fine, the system is fine, and that all is well...because he is currently profiting from the wealth transfers being orchestrated by the Obama administration.
Buffett is being naive, and greedy. Doesn't he realize that he is going to be a prime target for plunder once the bills come due for Socialist America? Or does he, with Cesearean recklessness and pride, feel he is an untouchable, even in Obama's crooked system?
Buffett could have been a leader, a voice of reason and a spokesman for the return to the capitalism that made him (and many other Americans) wealthy. Instead, he has sold his soul for some short-term profits finanaced by the middle-class taxpayer.
In the long term, both he and his shareholders will see their wealth raided. Obama will justify it as a return on his/our investment. And Buffet, who could have changed the world, will be rendered powerless by his very support of the system that will destroy him.
Pity.
Jon Corzine: Captain of the Titanic!
...or some sinking ship, anyway......
"Iceberg? What iceberg?
Lieutenant Obama, do you see an iceberg?"
"....Well, Captain Corzine, let me say this:
The people of New Jersey know the cost of this economic crisis...But in Jon, you have a governor who has built consensus to help families get through it, while putting the state on a path to long-term prosperity."
The blind leading the naked. How does New Jersey stack up, economically, against the rest of the Northeastern states? Well...let's say depsite Obama's rhetoric, these numbers look mroe like a long-term path to hell. Via New Jersey State Senator Joe Kyrillos (R - my 'hood!):
"The Governor’s belief — despite mounting evidence to the contrary — that we are doing better in weathering the economic crisis than other states actions proves the truth of the adage that ‘there’s none so blind as those that won’t see.’
According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, New Jersey’s 9.2% June unemployment rate exceeds that of Connecticut (8.0%), Delaware (8.4%), Maine (8.5%), Maryland (7.3%), Massachusetts (8.6%), New Hampshire (6.8%), New York (8.7%) and Pennsylvania (8.3%).
“New Jersey’s economy simply cannot survive an administration whose talents seem to be confined to raising taxes, increasing debt, promoting mismanagement and imposing absurd new levels of red tape and enacting other policies hostile to the public sector...”
Seems like Obama contains the same skill-set as Corzine. Think things are bad now? Wait until you've had four years of Obama (like we've had with Crooked Jon), and all of America will look like New Jersey....
"Iceberg? What iceberg?
Lieutenant Obama, do you see an iceberg?"
"....Well, Captain Corzine, let me say this:
The people of New Jersey know the cost of this economic crisis...But in Jon, you have a governor who has built consensus to help families get through it, while putting the state on a path to long-term prosperity."
The blind leading the naked. How does New Jersey stack up, economically, against the rest of the Northeastern states? Well...let's say depsite Obama's rhetoric, these numbers look mroe like a long-term path to hell. Via New Jersey State Senator Joe Kyrillos (R - my 'hood!):
"The Governor’s belief — despite mounting evidence to the contrary — that we are doing better in weathering the economic crisis than other states actions proves the truth of the adage that ‘there’s none so blind as those that won’t see.’
According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, New Jersey’s 9.2% June unemployment rate exceeds that of Connecticut (8.0%), Delaware (8.4%), Maine (8.5%), Maryland (7.3%), Massachusetts (8.6%), New Hampshire (6.8%), New York (8.7%) and Pennsylvania (8.3%).
“New Jersey’s economy simply cannot survive an administration whose talents seem to be confined to raising taxes, increasing debt, promoting mismanagement and imposing absurd new levels of red tape and enacting other policies hostile to the public sector...”
Seems like Obama contains the same skill-set as Corzine. Think things are bad now? Wait until you've had four years of Obama (like we've had with Crooked Jon), and all of America will look like New Jersey....
Some Jokers Are More Racist Than Others
Yeah, yeah, we know. Posters of Barack Obama as The Joker are a sign of the racist bent of American conservatives., yadda, yadda, yadda.
Well, everyone knows that no real black person would ever be a Republican, right? "Duh!", as the progressives would say....
So can any of my fellow progressive Americans explain to me why Obama/Joker is evil, while Steele/vaudville and Bush/vampire are OK?
Or is it simply that morality, (and racist intent), depend on the political party of the target and shooter?
But you can learn so much from "progressives" - for instance, I learned that while posters of Obama (or any ethnic Democrat) as the Joker are horribly racist, pictures of African-American Republicans in whiteface is A-OK! Funny and insightful, even! For instance, Daniel Kurtzman (SF Chronicle & HuffPost - no suprise) writing at About.com posts this side-splitter of RNC Chairman Michael Steele:
About.com (owned by the New York Times) lists this as "political humor". If so, where's Obama/Joker? Not funny? Or does it hit just the right note that it makes it too dangerous to be seen, and thus must be condemned?
Over at Big Hollywood:
Hang a few posters of Obama as Joker under a freeway overpass and the Left completely loses it. Do the exact same with a Republican and off in the distance all you hear is the gentle chirp of country crickets on a warm summer night.
But they've been going after Steele for a while now; as a candidate for governor in Maryland, bloggers depicted him thusly:
Well, everyone knows that no real black person would ever be a Republican, right? "Duh!", as the progressives would say....
Hmmm...if it's not race that has the left's nipples in such a knot, maybe its the president that shouldn't be depicted as comic-book villians out of respect? Well, Vanity Fair gave this "portrait" of George W. Bush a full page last year, with glee:
Or this, from the Village Voice:
So can any of my fellow progressive Americans explain to me why Obama/Joker is evil, while Steele/vaudville and Bush/vampire are OK?
Or is it simply that morality, (and racist intent), depend on the political party of the target and shooter?
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
"Cash for Clunkers": Lunatic Economics
Another day, another Obama administration cover-up. This time, they don't want to talk about where the first $1 billion in their much-ballyhooed "cash for clunkers" program went. This, as they ask for $2 billion more:
The Obama administration is refusing to release government records on its "cash-for-clunkers" rebate program that would substantiate — or undercut — White House claims of the program's success, even as the president presses the Senate for a quick vote for $2 billion to boost car sales.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Sunday the government would release electronic records about the program, and President Barack Obama has pledged greater transparency for his administration. But the Transportation Department, which has collected details about 157,000 rebate requests, won't release sales data that dealers provided showing how much U.S. car manufacturers are benefiting from the $1 billion initially pumped into the program.
What are Lahood and Obama trying to hide? Maybe this little chart, that gives an idea of what vehicles were purchased under the program, in volume ordered . Good news: Lots of fuel-sippers. Bad news? Well, where do we begin?
1 - Ford Focus
2 -Toyota Corolla
3 - Honda Civic
4 -Toyota Prius
5 -Toyota Camry
6 - Ford Escape
7 - Hyundai Elantra
8 -Dodge Caliber
9 - Honda Fit
10 - Chevy Cobalt
For openers, six of the top ten are foreign cars. So much for government ownership of the auto companies. Even when they create another taxpayer-funded program to help American automotive move some product, they still wind up helping foreign car makers more. Maybe because - in many cases - they're the better vehicle?
Additionally, no one is looking at the toll this program takes on poorer and younger drivers. "Clunkers", whose main liability is fuel consumption as opposed to inability to operate, are being taken off the road, depriving the poor of lower-cost used vehicles, and making older vehicles harder and more expensive to maintain as parts literally disappear off the marketplace (these "clunkers" are being liquidated, literally). Does every new immigrant and post-college student have the credit to buy a new $20,000- (at least) car? Do they have the financial wherewithall to even make the payments ? How will they get around, unless the government now spends even more money on "public" transportation, assuming these folks have access to it?
Ah, spending. We printed up the first $1 billion for this program, now Baracky wants $2 billion more. Where will it come from? Is it to be printed up as well and simply added to the deficit, a deficit so large that no one wants to buy our IOU's anymore? And if that's what he wants - more taxpayer welfare for Government Motors - shouldn't we demand that the government open the books and be held accountable?
This is madness..."lunatic economics", indeed.
The Obama administration is refusing to release government records on its "cash-for-clunkers" rebate program that would substantiate — or undercut — White House claims of the program's success, even as the president presses the Senate for a quick vote for $2 billion to boost car sales.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Sunday the government would release electronic records about the program, and President Barack Obama has pledged greater transparency for his administration. But the Transportation Department, which has collected details about 157,000 rebate requests, won't release sales data that dealers provided showing how much U.S. car manufacturers are benefiting from the $1 billion initially pumped into the program.
What are Lahood and Obama trying to hide? Maybe this little chart, that gives an idea of what vehicles were purchased under the program, in volume ordered . Good news: Lots of fuel-sippers. Bad news? Well, where do we begin?
1 - Ford Focus
2 -Toyota Corolla
3 - Honda Civic
4 -Toyota Prius
5 -Toyota Camry
6 - Ford Escape
7 - Hyundai Elantra
8 -Dodge Caliber
9 - Honda Fit
10 - Chevy Cobalt
For openers, six of the top ten are foreign cars. So much for government ownership of the auto companies. Even when they create another taxpayer-funded program to help American automotive move some product, they still wind up helping foreign car makers more. Maybe because - in many cases - they're the better vehicle?
Additionally, no one is looking at the toll this program takes on poorer and younger drivers. "Clunkers", whose main liability is fuel consumption as opposed to inability to operate, are being taken off the road, depriving the poor of lower-cost used vehicles, and making older vehicles harder and more expensive to maintain as parts literally disappear off the marketplace (these "clunkers" are being liquidated, literally). Does every new immigrant and post-college student have the credit to buy a new $20,000- (at least) car? Do they have the financial wherewithall to even make the payments ? How will they get around, unless the government now spends even more money on "public" transportation, assuming these folks have access to it?
Ah, spending. We printed up the first $1 billion for this program, now Baracky wants $2 billion more. Where will it come from? Is it to be printed up as well and simply added to the deficit, a deficit so large that no one wants to buy our IOU's anymore? And if that's what he wants - more taxpayer welfare for Government Motors - shouldn't we demand that the government open the books and be held accountable?
This is madness..."lunatic economics", indeed.
Can You Say, "Dear Leader"?
Obama's frustrated fantasies of ruling like a South American dictator - with the accompanying cult of personality - are fleshed out with this self-centered display outside of the White House:
People gather in front of the World's Largest Beaded Photo Mosaic of U.S. President Barack Obama on display in front of the White House in Washington, August 3, 2009. The project, created with over 372,600 beads by 1000 fourth grade students from across the U.S., was made in honor of Obama's 48th birthday....
...which, I believe, is today. If his birth certificate is to be believed (ha!).
Suprised I haven't seen a House Resolution declaring today to be a day of celebration and joyous reflection on the beneficence and benevolence of our exalted leader.
Ah, well. Paul Krugmen can only hope...
Monday, August 03, 2009
Obama at Harvard
So what did really go down at Harvard during Barack Obama's sojurn as a student in that august institution? He has refused to release his college transcript; surprising since George Bush's "C" average did not prevent him from being president, nor did John Kerry's "C" average prevent him from being the party nominee.
But maybe...it had nothing to do with the grades. Maybe it had something to do with the curriculum. Andrew Breitbart has a conspiracy theory that I gotta believe has some legs:
While I have no desire to see Mr. Obama's birth certificate, I do want to see his college transcripts. My suspicion, one could even call it a conspiracy theory, is that Mr. Obama committed himself to a radical curriculum, aligned himself with the far-left professoriate, and sought to keep this biographical information from his political enemies, especially then-rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, for fear that they would paint the former community organizer and follower of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright as something other than an advocate of racial reconciliation.
Which, Breitbart suggests, makes both Professor Gates and Barack Obama's reaction to the "arrest at Caimbridge" much more understandable. He points out that Obama's "teaching moment" over a few cold ones turned out to be anything but:
Not only were there no fresh ideas about race and living in multiethnic America, but there were hardly even any stale ones. Perhaps this was because Mr. Obama's and Mr. Gates' initial - and thus probably most authentic - reactions in playing the race card had proved so unpopular, and so they just wanted to have their frosted malt beverages and get outta Dodge.
Ironically, if he had just released the transcripts during the campaign, the media would have covered for him ("Racial Agitation 101"? What a wise course for an unanchored black man in the Ivy League!). Now, with the shine off and the socialism on, this information becomes much more explosive. With the gnawing feeling among many Americans that they have been duped into voting for an extremist, a course menu full of left-wing studies and radical professors will alienate the president even further from the bulk of the electorate.
It's hard to argue the president is not a socialist anymore. The word "racist" has now entered the vernacular as a term to describe the president as opposed to those whom defy him. Should the people now find out he was schooled in radical anti-Americanism, the bottom may fall out on Barack Obama, completely and totally.
So...how about those Harvard transcripts, Mr. President? What are you afraid of?
Now this is a conspiracy theory! Let's see the transcripts! Harvard, open ye doors to the sunlight!
And for good measure, I'll toss in one more - what was Joe Biden doing at the "beer summit", anyway? Perhaps....another white man was needed for the photo op? Hmmm.....
But maybe...it had nothing to do with the grades. Maybe it had something to do with the curriculum. Andrew Breitbart has a conspiracy theory that I gotta believe has some legs:
While I have no desire to see Mr. Obama's birth certificate, I do want to see his college transcripts. My suspicion, one could even call it a conspiracy theory, is that Mr. Obama committed himself to a radical curriculum, aligned himself with the far-left professoriate, and sought to keep this biographical information from his political enemies, especially then-rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, for fear that they would paint the former community organizer and follower of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright as something other than an advocate of racial reconciliation.
Which, Breitbart suggests, makes both Professor Gates and Barack Obama's reaction to the "arrest at Caimbridge" much more understandable. He points out that Obama's "teaching moment" over a few cold ones turned out to be anything but:
Not only were there no fresh ideas about race and living in multiethnic America, but there were hardly even any stale ones. Perhaps this was because Mr. Obama's and Mr. Gates' initial - and thus probably most authentic - reactions in playing the race card had proved so unpopular, and so they just wanted to have their frosted malt beverages and get outta Dodge.
Ironically, if he had just released the transcripts during the campaign, the media would have covered for him ("Racial Agitation 101"? What a wise course for an unanchored black man in the Ivy League!). Now, with the shine off and the socialism on, this information becomes much more explosive. With the gnawing feeling among many Americans that they have been duped into voting for an extremist, a course menu full of left-wing studies and radical professors will alienate the president even further from the bulk of the electorate.
It's hard to argue the president is not a socialist anymore. The word "racist" has now entered the vernacular as a term to describe the president as opposed to those whom defy him. Should the people now find out he was schooled in radical anti-Americanism, the bottom may fall out on Barack Obama, completely and totally.
So...how about those Harvard transcripts, Mr. President? What are you afraid of?
Now this is a conspiracy theory! Let's see the transcripts! Harvard, open ye doors to the sunlight!
And for good measure, I'll toss in one more - what was Joe Biden doing at the "beer summit", anyway? Perhaps....another white man was needed for the photo op? Hmmm.....
Ayn Rand vs. ObamaCare !
Mark Steyn talks about why nationalizing health care is so vital to the future plans of Barack Obama:
....health care is the fastest way to a permanent left-of-center political culture. That’s its attraction for an ambitious president: It redefines the relationship between the citizen and the state in a way that hands all the advantages to statists — to those who believe government has a legitimate right to regulate human affairs in every particular.
And you know Obama and the nanny-statists believe this with all their hearts. They've already decreed the type of cars we must drive, and how much energy we can and can't use; next up is how much we weigh, and what medications we get from the doctor (if they feel we need to see one at all; perhaps someone behind you on line is "disadvantaged"). Not to mention the constant demand that more and more of our monies must be relinquished to them, as they knwo best how our earnings must be spent.
Ayn Rand saw this coming, and spoke out about it years ago:
We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.
From free men to subjects, under the benign totalitarianism of Obama and the Democrats. Ayn sees nationalized medicine as the Trojan Horse that it truly is; the question is, will the rest of America be able to figure out what the flim-flam man has up his sleeve before it's too late?
No wonder Democratic legislators laugh when asked if they've read the trillion-dollar health care bill. It's not the bill that's important, it's what the bill's passage will allow them to do next that matters...
....health care is the fastest way to a permanent left-of-center political culture. That’s its attraction for an ambitious president: It redefines the relationship between the citizen and the state in a way that hands all the advantages to statists — to those who believe government has a legitimate right to regulate human affairs in every particular.
And you know Obama and the nanny-statists believe this with all their hearts. They've already decreed the type of cars we must drive, and how much energy we can and can't use; next up is how much we weigh, and what medications we get from the doctor (if they feel we need to see one at all; perhaps someone behind you on line is "disadvantaged"). Not to mention the constant demand that more and more of our monies must be relinquished to them, as they knwo best how our earnings must be spent.
Ayn Rand saw this coming, and spoke out about it years ago:
We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.
From free men to subjects, under the benign totalitarianism of Obama and the Democrats. Ayn sees nationalized medicine as the Trojan Horse that it truly is; the question is, will the rest of America be able to figure out what the flim-flam man has up his sleeve before it's too late?
No wonder Democratic legislators laugh when asked if they've read the trillion-dollar health care bill. It's not the bill that's important, it's what the bill's passage will allow them to do next that matters...
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Obama: Joker
Seems like Barack Obama is popping up in the strangest places in LA - and wearing a most unusual disguise, to boot:
"You see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push"
A poster of Barack Obama in Heath Ledger-style Joker make-up with the legend 'Socialism' beneath it has been popping up recently on surfaces around L.A...
More snapshots here...If the scales are falling off the eyes in Los Angeles, then The One is in more trouble than he knows...
UPDATE 8/3: I guess no one at LA WEEKLY really saw The Dark Knight (despite the reference), as they pull the "racist conservatives" out of the bag quicker than a liberal can sign off on a tax hike:
The poster, which bears a very superficial resemblance to Shepard Fairey's famous Obama Hope illustration, has been pasted on freeway supports and other public surfaces. It has a bit of everything to appeal to the drunk tank of California conservatism: Obama is in white face, his mouth (like Ledger's Joker's) has been grotesquely slit wide open and the word "Socialism" appears below his face. The only thing missing is a noose...
Elitism is "In Vogue"
Vogue editor Anna Wintour take a (power) trip:
...the Vogue editor in chief suggested a retail-sales strategy which some said amounted to industry price-fixing.
When CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg pointed out, "That's illegal," Wintour said: "Is that something we can change? We have friends in the White House now."
This is not the first time she has made a remark stressing her D.C. "power ties":
We always felt that Washington rather looked down on us or didn't understand us or wasn't quite ready for us, and now we have an administration that supports us.
Is Anna actually suggesting that she can use her connections with president Obama and the Democratic machine in a way that would help her personally, even if it were to damage retail outlets? Where would she get that idea?
Would it have something to do with money, perhaps? July, 2008:
Whether she meant to send the message or not, Anna Wintour has reinforced her status as someone not to mess with. As of yesterday, she has been added to the list of Barack Obama's bundlers for raising between $100,000 and $200,000 in campaign contributions.
That $1,000-a-head fundraiser, "An Evening with Michelle Obama," she held on June 10 along with Andre Leon Talley, Calvin Klein, and her boyfriend Shelby Bryan, must have been highly successful, because Andre Leon Talley has also been added to the list for contributing between $100,000 and $200,000.
Or perhaps it's all about ego and an overinflated sense of power...note Anna's comments in a Vogue editorial about Hillary Clinton after she turned down an offer of a cover shot:
"The notion that a contemporary woman must look mannish in order to be taken seriously as a seeker of power is frankly dismaying. How has our country come to this? ... This is America, not Saudi Arabia."
Does Anna believe she delivered the presidency to Obama via cash and anti-Hillary commentary? Was she ever promised something by the administration, or by new cover gal Michelle Obama?
Or is it her overwhelming sense of elitism and class superiority that leads her to assume the White House will make fundemental changes to retail law at her bidding?
...the Vogue editor in chief suggested a retail-sales strategy which some said amounted to industry price-fixing.
When CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg pointed out, "That's illegal," Wintour said: "Is that something we can change? We have friends in the White House now."
This is not the first time she has made a remark stressing her D.C. "power ties":
We always felt that Washington rather looked down on us or didn't understand us or wasn't quite ready for us, and now we have an administration that supports us.
Is Anna actually suggesting that she can use her connections with president Obama and the Democratic machine in a way that would help her personally, even if it were to damage retail outlets? Where would she get that idea?
Would it have something to do with money, perhaps? July, 2008:
Whether she meant to send the message or not, Anna Wintour has reinforced her status as someone not to mess with. As of yesterday, she has been added to the list of Barack Obama's bundlers for raising between $100,000 and $200,000 in campaign contributions.
That $1,000-a-head fundraiser, "An Evening with Michelle Obama," she held on June 10 along with Andre Leon Talley, Calvin Klein, and her boyfriend Shelby Bryan, must have been highly successful, because Andre Leon Talley has also been added to the list for contributing between $100,000 and $200,000.
Or perhaps it's all about ego and an overinflated sense of power...note Anna's comments in a Vogue editorial about Hillary Clinton after she turned down an offer of a cover shot:
"The notion that a contemporary woman must look mannish in order to be taken seriously as a seeker of power is frankly dismaying. How has our country come to this? ... This is America, not Saudi Arabia."
Does Anna believe she delivered the presidency to Obama via cash and anti-Hillary commentary? Was she ever promised something by the administration, or by new cover gal Michelle Obama?
Or is it her overwhelming sense of elitism and class superiority that leads her to assume the White House will make fundemental changes to retail law at her bidding?
It's her world now, and you just live it in...bitch.
Wait until she sees how Obamanomics destroys her advertiser and customer base. People paying $8- for a gallon of gas and dealing with doubling doctor bills while frantically wondering if they will still have a job next week are a bit less likely to enjoy buying - or reading about - $10K dresses and the people who flaunt them...
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Gates to Crowley: Step Off , White Trash!
Well, that's the perfesser's daughter, Elizabeth Gates, talking about the daughter of Officer Crowley:
As our family rounded the corner to the White House library and I first caught sight of Sgt. Crowley’s lovely daughter; she was wearing an appropriately heavy and charmingly untrained amount of green eyeliner on her lower lashes, and I saw my former self in her.
"Charmingly untrained"! Can you hear the sneer of the daughter of the Ivy League elite, as she looks down her nose at the offspring of a mere middle-class cop?
More snobbery, this time from the father:
You know, Crowley’s not a bad guy. He’s not a Joe the Plumber who wants to represent the Right.
Heaven Forfend! A plumber who fancies himself a conservative activist! Wash out you eyes, sweetie, and let's take in the opera!
Since her dad is trying to play nice, Elizabeth takes a swipe at Crowley herself:
Sergeant Crowley isn’t the first officer to fudge a police report.
Well, actually, there is no evidence he did that at all. Baseless accusations based on racist sterotypes are so 2008, Elizabeth - didn't you get the memo?
Lizzy thinks she is ending with powerful imagery, but it's more class warfare:
As my father said on the plane yesterday morning on our way to the White House, “there are approximately 800,000 black men in prison and on July 16, 2009, I simply became one of them.”
Why do I feel the worst part about this for Gates is not the fact he was a black man in prison, but the fact that he was forced to rub elbows with The Great Unwashed, when he should have been lecturing the scions of the rich on how racist they are.
Congratulations, Elizabeth. You've evolved from pedestrian racism to class snobbery. Those white middle-class cops and their painted whores they called daughters - how dare they interfere in the lives of those whom walk the Ivy halls!
Class condescension trumps race condescension in Barack Obama’s America.
So step off, know-nothing white trash, and let Obama and Gates save you from your TV-watching, pizza-eating, beer-drinking hell you call a life...
As our family rounded the corner to the White House library and I first caught sight of Sgt. Crowley’s lovely daughter; she was wearing an appropriately heavy and charmingly untrained amount of green eyeliner on her lower lashes, and I saw my former self in her.
"Charmingly untrained"! Can you hear the sneer of the daughter of the Ivy League elite, as she looks down her nose at the offspring of a mere middle-class cop?
More snobbery, this time from the father:
You know, Crowley’s not a bad guy. He’s not a Joe the Plumber who wants to represent the Right.
Heaven Forfend! A plumber who fancies himself a conservative activist! Wash out you eyes, sweetie, and let's take in the opera!
Since her dad is trying to play nice, Elizabeth takes a swipe at Crowley herself:
Sergeant Crowley isn’t the first officer to fudge a police report.
Well, actually, there is no evidence he did that at all. Baseless accusations based on racist sterotypes are so 2008, Elizabeth - didn't you get the memo?
Lizzy thinks she is ending with powerful imagery, but it's more class warfare:
As my father said on the plane yesterday morning on our way to the White House, “there are approximately 800,000 black men in prison and on July 16, 2009, I simply became one of them.”
Why do I feel the worst part about this for Gates is not the fact he was a black man in prison, but the fact that he was forced to rub elbows with The Great Unwashed, when he should have been lecturing the scions of the rich on how racist they are.
Congratulations, Elizabeth. You've evolved from pedestrian racism to class snobbery. Those white middle-class cops and their painted whores they called daughters - how dare they interfere in the lives of those whom walk the Ivy halls!
Class condescension trumps race condescension in Barack Obama’s America.
So step off, know-nothing white trash, and let Obama and Gates save you from your TV-watching, pizza-eating, beer-drinking hell you call a life...
Al Franken: Still Just a Talk-Show Host !
This is why Al Franken wanted to be senator - not to lead, legislate, or set an example, but to act out the fantasies he had when he was just another rage-filled liberal spitting hateful invective into the microphone:
Five years after he put his money behind the Swift Boat ads that helped tank John Kerry’s presidential campaign, Senate Democrats gave T. Boone Pickens a warm welcome at their weekly policy lunch Thursday.
Or at least most of them did.
According to a source, the wealthy oil and gas magnate and author of “The First Billion Is the Hardest” stepped up to introduce himself to Franken in a room just off the Senate Floor after the lunch ended
Franken, who was seated talking to someone else, did not stand when Pickens said hello. Instead, Franken began to berate him about the billionaire’s financing of the Swift Boat ads in 2004.
According to a source, the confrontation grew heated.
Said Franken spokeswoman Jess McIntosh: “It was a lively conversation.”
Can't you see the smirk on McIntosh's face?
Maybe someone ought to instuct Franken on protocol, about being polite to guests, about frothing and screaming at people for imagined offenses almost six years old. Maybe some senior Democrat ought to take him on the side and explain to him what his responsibilities are - to the Senate, the people of Minnesota, and to all of America.
Or maybe not. Franken is a complete and total assclown, his amatuer incompetence will certainly not strengthen the Democrats - their numbers, perhaps, but not their moral argument, which is currently what America is not buying.
Maybe we can introduce Senator Assclown to George W. Bush ? I am sure the nation would be quite proud of how the Capitol's newest Democrat comports himself...
Five years after he put his money behind the Swift Boat ads that helped tank John Kerry’s presidential campaign, Senate Democrats gave T. Boone Pickens a warm welcome at their weekly policy lunch Thursday.
Or at least most of them did.
According to a source, the wealthy oil and gas magnate and author of “The First Billion Is the Hardest” stepped up to introduce himself to Franken in a room just off the Senate Floor after the lunch ended
Franken, who was seated talking to someone else, did not stand when Pickens said hello. Instead, Franken began to berate him about the billionaire’s financing of the Swift Boat ads in 2004.
According to a source, the confrontation grew heated.
Said Franken spokeswoman Jess McIntosh: “It was a lively conversation.”
Can't you see the smirk on McIntosh's face?
Maybe someone ought to instuct Franken on protocol, about being polite to guests, about frothing and screaming at people for imagined offenses almost six years old. Maybe some senior Democrat ought to take him on the side and explain to him what his responsibilities are - to the Senate, the people of Minnesota, and to all of America.
Or maybe not. Franken is a complete and total assclown, his amatuer incompetence will certainly not strengthen the Democrats - their numbers, perhaps, but not their moral argument, which is currently what America is not buying.
Maybe we can introduce Senator Assclown to George W. Bush ? I am sure the nation would be quite proud of how the Capitol's newest Democrat comports himself...
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